Solubility of Metals in Melt/Fluid Systems (IGC36)

Invitation to the IGC36

Prof. Hassan Helmy invites colleagues and scholars to submit their abstracts to session 28.5 “Solubility of Metals in Melt/Fluid Systems”.

The session is convened by Anna Vymazalová, Hassan Helmy

Session short summary:

This symposium welcomes contributions that enhance our understanding of metal solubility, speciation, and transport in geologically-relevant fluids (aqueous or non-aqueous) and melts (silicate, sulfide, carbonate) in ore-forming environments.

Submission is from: https://www.36igc.org/abstract-submission

Funding opportunity to attend IGC36th in New Delhi, India, in March 2020

Establishment of the 35th International Geological Congress (35th IGC) Legacy Fund and offer of financial support to attend the 36th IGC

Background to the 35IGC Legacy Fund

Following a directive from the IUGS concerning all International Geological Congress events, one of the goals of the Local Organizing Committee (LOC) of the 35th International Geological Congress (35th IGC) held in Cape Town in August 2016, was to establish a Legacy Fund with surplus funds generated by the 35th IGC. The purpose of the Fund is to support student attendance of appropriate international and national congresses, as well as various legacy and research projects being undertaken by the southern African earth science community. With the surplus funds from the 35th IGC now audited and available, the 35IGC Legacy Fund has been formally established.

 

Funding policy

Following preliminary discussions on the establishment of the 35IGC Legacy Fund, the proposed mandate for the Fund is to provide financial assistance for inter alia,

  • Student attendance of local and international earth science congresses and particularly IGCs;
  • Geoheritage projects mooted or developed as a consequence of 35th IGC;
  • Publication of guidebooks, textbooks or other material that will assist in the communication and education of society with regard to earth science matters;
  • Geotourism initiatives preferably in partnership with government and local tourism agencies, and
  • Selected research, development and innovation projects in the earth science disciplines.

 

Application for financial support from the 35IGC Legacy Fund to attend the 36th IGC

One of the main mandates of the Legacy Fund is the support of young southern African earth science students wishing to attend future International Geological Congresses to present the results of their research. With the planning of the 36th IGC in India well advanced the 35IGC Legacy Fund would like to provide financial support for deserving students to attend the event.

 

This notice therefore serves as an official invitation to full-time, post graduate students in the earth sciences, registered at South African universities, to apply to the 35IGC Legacy Fund for financial assistance to attend the 36th IGC in India in 2020. To apply for financial assistance, the following conditions will apply:

  • Applicants must be registered full-time for a post graduate degree in earth sciences at a South African university in 2019 and at the time of the 36th IG Proof of University registration will be required;
  • Applicants must be under the age of 35 at the time of application;
  • A letter of support from the university supervisor is required;
  • Financial support will cover the cost of a return air ticket to India, the conference registration fee and reasonable accommodation cost for the duration of the congress;
  • Proof of submission and acceptance of a presentation or poster by the Organising Committee of the 36th IGC must be provided;
  • The research results presented in the abstract should focus on aspects of African geology;
  • Financial support from 36th IGC or other sources to cover travel, registration costs and accommodation is not acceptable and will result in the cancellation of the application to the 35IGC Legacy Fund. Sources of financial support to cover 36th IGC costs must be declared, and the costs covered by such funding should be stated in the application.
  • In the case of a multi-author abstract the applicant must be the presenter of the paper (oral or poster) at 36th

 

As only limited funds are available, compliance with the above conditions does not guarantee acceptance of the application. All provisionally successful applications will be reviewed and evaluated by the Management Committee/Board of the Legacy Fund and their decision is final.

Applications must be made on the prescribed form available as an attachment to this notice and submitted to Ms Ndivhuwo Mukosi at 35IGCLegacy@geoscience.org.za before 31 May 2019 (deadline extended to end of June).

 

The following supporting documents must be submitted with each application:

  • Copy of the abstract submitted to the Organising Committee of the 36th Attach proof of acceptance by Organising Committee if already available.
  • Budget indicating allocation of funds requested for airfare, congress registration and accommodation.
  • Supervisor support letter also stating proof of university registration, age and whether registration will continue through to 2020.
  • Short CV (100 words max.)

All successful applicants will be required to provide proof of being in possession of a valid passport and visa to attend the 36th IGC in India.

 

N.B deadline for submissions of abstract to 36th IGC is 31 August 2019.

Other important key dates of 36th IGC are available at http://36igc.org/

 

Application can be found at:

http://gsafr.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/35IGCLegacyFundFinAppl36thIGCUpdated.pdf

Hommage de la Société Géologique d’Afrique au Professeur El Hassan Sayouty de l’université Hassan II de Casablanca. Maroc

By Prof. Y. DRIOUCH, Vice President of GSAf

Professeur El Hassan Sayouty a perdu la vie suite au crash de l’Avion d’Ethiopian Airlines qui le conduisait d’Addis Abeba à Nairobi pour participer, en tant que président du « Social and Environmental Leadership Task Force » du groupe de travail AMREC lié aux activités des groupes UNFC-AMREC. Cette réunion devait se tenir au cours de la 4ème session de la commission des nations unis sur l’environnement (UNEA) prévue du 11 au 15 mars 2019.

Ce groupe de travail inclut aussi des experts géologues dont des membres du conseil de la société géologique d’Afrique (GSAf) dont il était plus qu’un collaborateur, mais un ami. Décrit comme un homme exceptionnel doté du sens de l’écoute et du partage, il était très soucieux du développement humain en Afrique.

Ci-dessous quelques extraits de ce qu’en ont dit, spontanément, des membres du conseil de la GSAf dans des e-mails partagés en interne suite à cette triste nouvelle :

L’actuel président de la GSAf, Prof. Gbenga Okunlola, a écrit :

“I lost a good friend and academic, Prof Sayouty, Moroccan and nuclear physicist but working closely with us on the expert group of the AMREC /PARC project that GSAf is also very much involved in. He was extremely enthusiastic about the CAG 28 in Morocco.  We were together in Dakar, Senegal in November 2018 at one of the working group meetings. In fact, he encouraged me to book and stay in the hotel we both stayed in and we were next door neighbours, seeing each other and interacting closely everyday throughout the duration of the meeting that dovetailed into the OAGS meeting. It is to me a personal loss and a loss to the geoscience and the entire science community in Africa.”

L’ex président de la GSAf, Prof. Aberra Mogessie.

“I am very sad about the death of Prof. El Hassan Sayouty from Morocco, who was a very nice and friendly colleague who I worked with in the AMREC Group.”

Par ailleurs Mr Saddiqi Omar, géologue et Doyen de la faculté des Sciences Ain Chock de l’Université de Casablanca, a rendu un émouvant hommage au Prof. Sayoury en disant notamment(extrait de http://article19.ma/accueil/archives/109193):

« Le défunt « a toujours été une fierté pour la Faculté des sciences parce qu’il était connu au plan mondial dans le domaine de la physique nucléaire. Il travaillait beaucoup avec l’Agence internationale de l’énergie atomique (AIEA). Il participait souvent à des réunions internationales. Il honorait ainsi les enseignants et l’université marocaine dans ce domaine ». « Prof.  Sayouty a perdu la vie alors qu’il était en mission et représentait l’Université et le royaume du Maroc à une importante réunion, la 4ème session de la commission de l’ONU sur l’environnement prévue à Nairobi au Kenya du 11 au 15 mars. »

Charlotte Griffiths, Chief of Section, Sustainable Energy Division. United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, a écrit à propos du Dr Sayouti:

« Professor Sayouty was going to Nairobi to participate in the Fourth United Nations Environmental Assembly (UNEA).  He was one of the organizers and speakers at the session on “Mining and the environment: The African framework to address impacts through innovative solutions”.  This session, organized jointly by the African Union and UNECE, showcases the development of UNFC-AMREC as a comprehensive system for social and environmentally sound resource management in Africa. An exceptional man with a contemporary vision of human development that overflowed with passion and philosophy, Professor Sayouty will be sorely missed. We offer our sincere condolences to his family, friends and colleagues. »

Please leave your memories and photos of Professor Sayouty here: www.weremember.com/hassan-sayouty/4w2h/memories .

Toute la communauté universitaire marocaine est endeuillée par cette disparition. La communauté des Géologues avec laquelle Prof. Sayouty, travaillait sur des thématiques liées à l’énergie et à l’environnement, tient aussi à rendre hommage à ce grand homme de la science et de la société.

Nous nous associons à ses collègues et amis pour présenter nos sincères condoléances à sa famille, à ses collègues du département de physique, de la faculté des sciences Ain Chock et de toute l’Université de Casablanca.

Que son âme repose en paix.

Nos pensées vont aussi à plusieurs universitaires de différents pays (Nigeria, Togo, Éthiopie, Kenya,…) qui ont perdu la vie dans cet accident.

 

Ci-dessous un extrait du parcours du Professeur El Hassan Sayouti

  • Né le 11 Novembre 1996 à Tafraout. Maroc ;
  • Après un baccalauréat obtenu à Casablanca, il suivi des études de physique puis de physique atomique et nucléaire à l’université Claude-Bernard de Lyon (France) où il a obtenu son doctorat de 3ème cycle en 1984 ;
  • Doctorat d’État en 1990 à l’Université de Casablanca où il était enseignant chercheur depuis 1985 après avoir travaillé dans l’office national de l’Électricité en tant qu’Ingénieur ;
  • Il a occupé plusieurs fonctions au sein de sa faculté dont principalement :
    • Responsables de plusieurs projets de recherche internationaux,
    • Directeur de laboratoire
    • Chef du département de physique ;
  • Coordinateur du réseau « Analyse nucléaire et environnement »
  • Il a aussi été expert auprès de :
    • la Commission Nationale d’Accréditation et d’Evaluation (CNAE)
    • L’agence internationale de l’énergie atomique
    • Des commissions d’experts des Nations Unis.
  • Il a aussi été le directeur de recherches, durant plus de trente ans de loyaux services à l’enseignement et à la recherche, d’un nombre considérable d’étudiants de Master et de Doctorat.

Ses étudiants comme ses collègues en sont, à jamais, orphelins.

Eberhard Klitzsch (1933 – 2018)

By:

Sospeter Muhongo and Thomas Schlüter

Eberhard Klitzsch was born on 18 August 1933 as son of a forest warden in Remda, Thuringia, in central Germany. After attending school at various places in the former GDR, but finally achieving the obligatory Abitur certificate, he enrolled for geology at Jena University in 1951. But he had to flee to West Berlin due to his distribution in public of anti-government leaflets against the East German regime. He enrolled again for geology at the newly, in 1948 founded FU-Berlin, where he completed his diploma in geology/palaeontology in 1957, and only one year later was conferred with a doctorate for a thesis on the stratigraphy of the Middle Devonian along the Dill basin.

But before finalising his doctorate he was already employed just after his diploma by the US Geological Survey as an engineering geologist, and worked for one year for the Survey and then from 1958 to 1967 as a field geologist for the German petroleum exploration company DEA in Libya and neighbouring regions. Subsequently he returned to West-Berlin, was now habilitated at the TU-Berlin, and became full professor at the same university in the applied geological disciplines of hydrogeology, petroleum geology and photogeology in 1970.

His biggest merit was surely initiating and the subsequent development of the special research unit SFB 69 (“Sonderforschungsbereich”) Geoscientific problems in arid and semi-arid regions of Africa”, established in 1981, whose spokesman and representative he was till 1995. Major research topics of this unit included the analysis of the geological structures in the Sahara and its southern neighbouring regions, under special consideration of their water and mineral resources. In Cairo (Egypt) he came soon into contact and worked successfully together with the eminent Egyptian geologist Rushdi Said (1920-2013), the Harvard-educated Director of the Geological Survey of Egypt, who had published various books on the geology of Egypt and was in charge for fieldwork and mapping of large parts of the Egyptian desert.

Over the years, more than 200 geoscientists were working for the SFB, participating from all universities of Berlin and various universities in Africa. Altogether more than 120 doctoral dissertations were produced, among them 33 from African research students. Additionally, some theses for habilitation were also supervised by Eberhard Klitzsch, thus enabling the candidates to qualify for the status of Privatdozent, which is a prerequisite to become full professor. The results of his research and his co-workers were summarized in a book entitled: Nordost-Afrika: Strukturen und Ressourcen (Northeast Africa: Structures and Resources), published by Eberhard Klitzsch and Ulf Thorweihe in 1999.

Eberhard Klitzsch had originally planned to transfer the human and physical resources of the SFB into an international institute of African geosciences located in Berlin, but after re-unification of the two German states in 1990 all the potentially needed funds for this task had largely to be provided for the reconstruction and maintenance of the Humboldt-University in the eastern part of Berlin, which in the context of integration of its previous infrastructure into the federal education model of Germany had now completely to be restructured. What had remained of the former SFB was transferred into a research subject now called International Geosystem Analysis (GEOSYS), which was largely based at the Technical University of Berlin. The data and material achieved over the active years of the SFB will still be evaluated by generations of geoscientists in future years.

After becoming Professor emeritus in 1998 at the TU-Berlin, Eberhard Klitzsch was still a highly demanded expert for consultancy in various German and foreign government institutions on geoscientific problems in many parts of the world. He was welcomed in many geoscience institutions all over the world and travelled for instance to Oman, India and Paraguay. His personal interest concentrated still in the exploration of new petroleum fields, but supported also colleagues in totally different subjects, for instance in palaeontology.

Fig. 1: Frontispiece of Eberhard Klitzsch`s autobiographic book Geologie ist nichts für Feiglinge (“Geology is nothing for cowards”), published in Berlin in 2012 (he in the centre),

Eberhard Klitzsch received various awards for his geoscientific achievements, among these several honorary doctorates and in 1988 the highest civilian order of the Federal Republic of Germany, the Bundesverdienstkreuz am Bande. In 2012 he published his autobiography, in which he less about his scientific merits reported, but detailed all his adventures in the deserts of Libya, Egypt, Sudan and other arid or semi-arid countries described. Sometimes imprisoned, hijacked or surviving in an airplane crash, he never lost his mood and interest in the respective areas despite what had happened. Over the final years of his life he became increasingly fragile, but still participated actively in different scientific meetings. He died in Berlin on 20 September 2018.

 

National Anti-Corruption Conference

Last year, APSEA joined the Multi-Sectoral initiative Against Corruption, a platform that brings together various sectors including private sector, religious, civil society, women, youth, media, and professionals, has had deliberations within each of their sectors, with the intent of undertaking self-reflection sessions on the ills of corruption, and designing holistic strategies for addressing the same.
Kenya has made significant reforms that have largely driven sustained economic growth, social development and political gains over the past decade. However, its key deterrent to the actualization of its potential is the prevalence of corruption that has embedded itself within the fiber of society.
As the Professional Sector, we have held several meetings and professional bodies within the APSEA membership have carried out a self-assessment of the various forms of corruption within their profession and have outlined strategies to prevent and fight corruption in its various forms. The individual association’s reports were consolidated into the Professional Sector Anti-Corruption Report.
It is against this backdrop that the Multi-Sectoral Initiative has organized a National Anti-Corruption Conference slated to take place on the 24th & 25th of January 2019 at Bomas of Kenya from 8:00 am. The chief Guest shall be His Excellency President Uhuru Kenyatta.
As a Member of the Multi-Sectoral Initiative, APSEA invites you all, as Professionals to the National Anti-Corruption Conference to deliberate and amalgamate the different strategies into a grand citizen and sector-led action plan to combat corruption. Please note that there are no charges for participation.
Attendance shall only be by confirmation, by sending in your full names and phone number tgeologicasocietykenya@gmail.com and 0787690529 or 0775098895 ASAP.

 

 

Premier colloque sur la géologie des bassins sédimentaires maghrébins

Projet d’organisation d’un colloque sur la géologie des bassins maghrébins.

Le Maghreb, en général, se singularise par une diversité géographique, une variété importante et une grande qualité des affleurements géologiques. Ce grand territoire est constitué à prés de 75% de sa surface de terrains sédimentaires. Les terrains sédimentaires affleurant couvrent toutes les périodes géologiques. Ce fait a généré une grande communauté des géologues spécialisés.

Ce colloque “premier colloque sur la géologie des bassins sédimentaires maghrébins” que nous voulons organiser, se veut comme une halte afin d’actualiser nos connaissances dans les différents domaines des géosciences mais aussi d’ouvrir des perspectives de recherche dans l’avenir. En effet une quantité importante de mémoires et thèses ont été achevés et leurs résultats sont souvent publiés dans des revues destinées à un publique averti. Nous visons à travers ce colloque une sensibilisation pour les géosciences dans le domaine sédimentaire afin de mieux évaluer nos ressources hydriques, minérales et énergétiques.

Important : Le colloque se tiendra du 28 au 30 Avril 2019.
La date limite d’envoi des résumés est fixée au 15 Février 2019.
Les notifications d’acceptation seront données le 01 Mars 2019.

Abstract submission>
https://mbersi5.wixsite.com/cgbsm/abstracts-submission

One More Geological Clue Still Pending; “The Obsidian of the Land of Punt”

By: Mahmoud A. Emam

Teaching Assistant, Institute of African Studies and Research, Cairo University.

Mahmoud.emam@cu.edu.eg

All the copyrights for the registered letter belong to the authors – This is not a published letter yet, the authors need to address the comments by the readers before the publication.

From the Old Kingdom (c. 2575–2150 BC) onwards, Punt was frequently recorded in Egyptian royal, private, religious and literary texts as a geographical region from which frankincense and other exotic products were imported as well as that mythical place from which marvelous things came to Egypt. Egypt relationship to Land of Punt is based on commercial interests. Such trading contacts are attested by commemorative stelae, tomb reliefs, and most notably by the reliefs in Queen Hatshepsut’s mortuary temple at Deir El-Bahri.

The location of Punt and its routes from Egypt have been debated for more than century, because these Egyptian textual and representational evidence only provides a general picture of Punt. Many different hypotheses have been advanced by Egyptologists to locate Punt in specific geographical regions. Arabia, Somalia, Mozambique, Sudan, Uganda, Ethiopia and Eritrea, all of these places and others have been suggested at one time or another. But recently a collection of additional archaeological, anthropological, geographical, botanical and zoological evidence assist in locating Punt on African coast in the northern Horn of Africa (i.e. northern Ethiopia and Eritrea; Fig. 1). However, in point of view, the geological evidence still pending. copyswiss.me

Wadi Gawasis (Fig.1) on the Red Sea coast is the main port to sail to this land, where the archaeologists discovered inscribed ostraca, well-preserved timber, limestone anchors, stelae recording seafaring expeditions to Punt. Structures associated with the stelae at Wadi Gawasis on the Red Sea coast provided the first archaeological evidence that the Egyptians were navigating in the Red Sea.

There are a lot of foreign materials had been discovered in this port including ship timbers, anchors, ropes, cargo boxes, administrative devices, ostraca, fragments of papyri, lithics, plant and animal remains and pottery (e.g. Ancient Ona ware, early Adulis ware from Eritrea, Gash Group ware and Nubian ware from the region of the 4th Cataract in Sudan, Malayba ware, and Sabir ware from Southern Arabia). In addition to raw materials, researchers found African ebony most likely from the northwestern slopes of the highlands in Eritrea, and obsidian (which did not analysed yet).

Fig.1: the location of Wadi Gawasis port, and the land of Punt. (Fattovich, 2012)

Obsidian is a natural volcanic glass of rhyolite composition (defined by a silica content of around 70% by weight). Due to its numerous qualities – physical and aesthetic – it is well known both as a luxury item and tool material throughout the prehistoric and historic world. Obsidian is the sharpest available raw material and is homogeneous in nature, making it easily workable and desirable as a tool of production. The ancient Egyptians used obsidian to inlay statue eyes, jewels, and amulets (Fig. 2). Geologically, there are no sources of obsidian in Egypt, while many obsidian sources documented on either side of the southern Red Sea (Fig. 3), near to the Land of Punt.

Fig. 2: Ancient Egyptian artifacts from obsidian, Suez National Museum.

A geochemical homogeneity of each obsidian source allows obsidian to traceable back source at outcrop. That requires geochemical characterization of sources in order to establish the origins of obsidian artifacts. Chemical or mineralogical analysis samples of obsidian recently discovered from these Wadi Gawasis port will help the determine its geochemical characterization in order to locating these source region, by comparing the results with at numerous samples of obsidian collected and already analysed from both sides of southern Red Sea coasts, which will definitely shed new lights to find the location of the Land of Punt, or approve the current theory at least. www.fakewatches.cc

Fig. 3: The sources of obsidian in the southern Red Sea coasts. (Khalidi, 2010)

References                                                                                                 

Fattovich, R. (2012) “Egypt’s trade with Punt: New discoveries on the Red Sea coast”, British Museum Studies in Ancient Egypt and Sudan 18, 1–59.

Khalidi, L. (2010) “Holocene Obsidian Exchange in the Red Sea Region”, in The Evolution of Human Populations in Arabia: Paleoenvironments, Prehistory and Genetics, Petraglia, M. D., Rose, J. I., (eds.), Netherlands: Springer, 279-291.

Kitchen, K. (1971) “Punt and how to get there”, Orientalia 40,184–207.

Meeks, D. (2003) “Locating Punt”, in Mysterious Lands: encounters with ancient Egypt, O’Connor, D., Quirke, S., London: University College of London Press, 53–80.

Phillips, J. (1997) “Punt and Aksum: Egypt and the Horn of Africa”, the Journal of African History 38, 423-457

Sayed, A. M. (1978) “The recently discovered port on the Red Sea shore”, Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 64, 69-71.

Wicker, F.D.P. (1998) “The road to Punt”, Geographical Journal 164, 45-56.